What is the best setup for hauling 5th wheel campers ?

[Blackhawk7204]

I am going to buy a new 2018 or 2019 Ram
For hauling 5th wheel campers and possibly gooseneck trailers for hot shot work.
Going to get the 6.7 Cummins of course but which would be best, 2500 or 3500 and which rear end? Single or dual rear wheel?
I will be loaded at least 50% of the time.
Thanks for the help.

 

[cerberusiam]

DRW 4x4, AISIN trans, 4.10 gears. Ultimate tow rig for just about anything up to 35k.

 

[Blackhawk7204]

I drove one just like that the other day, it was impressive! However, it was only getting a little over 15mpg on the highway empty.
What kind of mileage should I expect while towing a 5th wheel?
Would a higher speed rear end be more economical or would it just not want to pull in 6th gear?

 

[RVTRKN]

Alot of opinions, my choice is what cerberusiam pointed out. I would think long and hard on a 5500 for serious professional towing, however any C&C 3500/4500/5500 has registration issues which puts you in another class, costing more in registration and insurance and a 4:10 ratio or higher. Alot of members here like the 3:42, and it seems like you want better milage, but your milage will be better heavy with 4:10. So with your options with what you want to do, would require 4:10, and figure the lower MPG empty is just part of your cost of doing business. JM2CW....

 

[Tuesdak]

I suggest you run real numbers before you get taken advantage of by one of the RV hauler brokers. A few make a go at it and many discover it doesn't pay ending up with a 1 year old truck that has 100K+ miles on it with a huge payment. Buying a new truck to get into the business is by far the worst way to go about it. Get as old of a truck as they will let you to save monthly payment costs. IMO the 5500 trucks are cheaper than 'everyone wants a Daily Driver diesel pickup' class. 50% loaded or less is BS! You got to drive out and pick up the RV to ship. Backhauls are a joke and if you do get a rare one it generally will have rotten tires costing you time. There is a lot to learn in Hot-Shot. RV hauling is flooded with cheap freight that retirees haul for fuel money to go somewhere. You will want to know your monthly cost: truck payment, insurance, tags, etc. to get a cost per day wheels rolling or not. Then you want your CPM, Cost per mile: loaded and unloaded. You can figure out if a trip is profitable or not when you know these numbers. A quick and dirty way to discourage you is look at what you earn in 100,000 miles ASSuming 50% loaded: $1.50 mile loaded for 50,000 miles is $75,000. That's the cost of a truck equipped. The truck burns fuel, lots of it! 50,000 miles unloaded at 18 MPG is 2777.8 Gal at $2.69 is $7472. Plus 50K miles loaded at 8MPG is 6250 gal at $2.69 is $16,812.50. That's $50,715 left over after just fuel. Take off insurance, meals, Comdata card fees (that you get paid on), hotels or sleep in the trailer when you got one hooked and the weather lets you (against the rules), 2 sets of tires $4000.00, ten oil changes $1000.00, $8400.00 in truck payments... You see where we just went below what a underpaid school teacher earns and you are working your butt off? Assuming nothing major breaks, the roof that pealed off due to shoddy workmanship didn't come out of your $1000 damage deposit, rolling target for DOT harassment didn't cost you a mint... You might ask about Hook and Tow where you load a trailer on a flatbed truck and tow another one behind you delivering 2 trailers at once. No they don't publish the profitable areas of RV hauling, but, IMO Hot Shot or hauling cars has more promise.

 

[RVTRKN]

I suggest you run real numbers before you get taken advantage of by one of the RV hauler brokers. A few make a go at it and many discover it doesn't pay ending up with a 1 year old truck that has 100K+ miles on it with a huge payment. Buying a new truck to get into the business is by far the worst way to go about it. Get as old of a truck as they will let you to save monthly payment costs. IMO the 5500 trucks are cheaper than 'everyone wants a Daily Driver diesel pickup' class. 50% loaded or less is BS! You got to drive out and pick up the RV to ship. Backhauls are a joke and if you do get a rare one it generally will have rotten tires costing you time. There is a lot to learn in Hot-Shot. RV hauling is flooded with cheap freight that retirees haul for fuel money to go somewhere. You will want to know your monthly cost: truck payment, insurance, tags, etc. to get a cost per day wheels rolling or not. Then you want your CPM, Cost per mile: loaded and unloaded. You can figure out if a trip is profitable or not when you know these numbers. A quick and dirty way to discourage you is look at what you earn in 100,000 miles ASSuming 50% loaded: $1.50 mile loaded for 50,000 miles is $75,000. That's the cost of a truck equipped. The truck burns fuel, lots of it! 50,000 miles unloaded at 18 MPG is 2777.8 Gal at $2.69 is $7472. Plus 50K miles loaded at 8MPG is 6250 gal at $2.69 is $16,812.50. That's $50,715 left over after just fuel. Take off insurance, meals, Comdata card fees (that you get paid on), hotels or sleep in the trailer when you got one hooked and the weather lets you (against the rules), 2 sets of tires $4000.00, ten oil changes $1000.00, $8400.00 in truck payments... You see where we just went below what a underpaid school teacher earns and you are working your butt off? Assuming nothing major breaks, the roof that pealed off due to shoddy workmanship didn't come out of your $1000 damage deposit, rolling target for DOT harassment didn't cost you a mint... You might ask about Hook and Tow where you load a trailer on a flatbed truck and tow another one behind you delivering 2 trailers at once. No they don't publish the profitable areas of RV hauling, but, IMO Hot Shot or hauling cars has more promise.

Amen brother, and you forgot to mention having to put money aside to replace a 60K truck eventually.

 

[NIsaacs]

Hot shot trucking can be done successfully, here is one:

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/showthread.php?257197&p=2515340#post2515340

And this one:

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/244519-500-000-miles-in-07-cab-chassis?highlight=eb

GAmes, is another one and usually will respond to a post like this with good info.

Are you anywhere near some big oil fields?

Nick

 

[6V92TA]

depends on weight of your fifth wheel, what setup you run with. I have a 16' 3500 DRWCC 4X4 w/410 gearing and 68RFE. rated to tow 21k. my fifth wheel is a GD 317RST. its south of 12k loaded. so its overkill, I could get away with a 2500 with highway gears.

 

[Cummins12V98]

AISIN 3.42's!!! You will never be over 29k combined even towing the heaviest Mobile Suites. Benefit of 3.42's is you will save BIG $$$ on your return trip BobTail.

5th with 3.42's same rpm as 4.10's in 6th.

My comments are from owning both gear sets.

Don't get sucked into the 3.73 compromise theory.

 

[Larry Willard]

DRW 4x4, AISIN trans, 4.10 gears. Ultimate tow rig for just about anything up to 35k.

Have to agree this would be the best set up.

 

[Blackhawk7204]

I live in northwest alabama

 

[NIsaacs]

You really need to know what you are going to tow/haul, local/long distance, flat ground/mountains, off highway/on highway, and light or heavy. Then pick the truck to fit.

Nick

 

[NIsaacs]

AISIN 3.42's!!! You will never be over 29k combined even towing the heaviest Mobile Suites. Benefit of 3.42's is you will save BIG $$$ on your return trip BobTail.

5th with 3.42's same rpm as 4.10's in 6th.

My comments are from owning both gear sets.

Don't get sucked into the 3.73 compromise theory.

Do not get caught up in this broken record, for commercial use. Do you want a tow vehicle that might see 100k miles a year, or a personal use truck that might tow a personal use RV 2 or 3 times a year? The rest of the time it is a daily driver. You want a rig that will shine loaded, not empty.

Nick

 

[cerberusiam]

I drove one just like that the other day, it was impressive! However, it was only getting a little over 15mpg on the highway empty.
What kind of mileage should I expect while towing a 5th wheel?
Would a higher speed rear end be more economical or would it just not want to pull in 6th gear?

Way too many variables to gauge mileage. where you drive, how you drive, what you pull, weather, etc. All things being equal, 12-13 mpg at max load is a good number. It will do that day after day with no issues if the electronic bugs don't bite.

Tire size will adjust that mileage a bit, bone stock with a taller tire you might get that up to 17 mpg in good conditions empty. Nice thing about the 4.10's is you can go up in tire size and not hurt performance and efficiency.


Slow down, that is your best efficiency maker. There trucks are bricks at 70 mph and above, there is just no fix for the amount resistance in the air since you cannot control environment. Air density and humidity, biggest killers of efficiency you will find. Worst mpg you will find will be south of the Mason Dixon and east of the center of lower 48. There is simply no way but slowing down to make mpg. It takes X hp to do a unit of work no matter the gear ratios, the only difference is the load on the drive train.

 

[6V92TA]

Do not get caught up in this broken record, for commercial use. Do you want a tow vehicle that might see 100k miles a year, or a personal use truck that might tow a personal use RV 2 or 3 times a year? The rest of the time it is a daily driver. You want a rig that will shine loaded, not empty.

Nick

exactly. if you use the vehicle commercially you want all the gears to be useable

 

[Blackhawk7204]

I would mostly be pulling large 5th wheel campers all over the U.S. and possibly even into Canada, and am considering later buying a large goose neck trailer to do some hot shot work as well .
I would be under a load as much as I can, but no less than 50% of the time.
This would be a work truck not a daily driver for personal use.

 

[kthaxton]

Don't get sucked into the 3.73 compromise theory.

It's so bizarre that you can't understand the merits of slightly better towing performance than 3.42, but not nearly as much as 4.10. The middle between two extremes is a compromise, and can be a good thing.

Do you feel like the gods of physics kills a kitten every time someone buys 3.73's? That what it seems like.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Do not get caught up in this broken record, for commercial use. Do you want a tow vehicle that might see 100k miles a year, or a personal use truck that might tow a personal use RV 2 or 3 times a year? The rest of the time it is a daily driver. You want a rig that will shine loaded, not empty.

Nick

Give me a break! I towed this 28-29K combo for WELL over 1/2 of the 65K I owned the truck.

Like I said he will never exceed the FACTORY rating hauling even the heaviest DRV with 3.42's. It's all about making money and he will get the EXACT same mileage with the 3.42's as 4.10's hauling. BUT will save BIG $$$ when running BobTail.

To prove I am not talking out my AZZ here is the SAE towing chart for the 15's and the 18-19's will be even higher.

 

[Cummins12V98]

"Do you feel like the gods of physics kills a kitten every time someone buys 3.73's? "

YES!

Like I showed above RAM does know what they are talking about.

To the "you should be able to run all the gears" people. Do Semi's run in top gear when loaded??? I'm thinking they have other gear or gears for running unoaded for mileage.

I towed 29K West Coast for many miles got 9.5 mpg HAND calc AVERAGE. ONLY issue was not having the lower starting gears that the AISIN gives you. Just look at the chart. Remember this not what RAM says it's backed by the SAE J2807 test.

If the OP knows for a fACT he is going to exceed the 29K or so combined weight he should get the 4.10's.

 

[RVTRKN]

Towing your own personal rig is not the same as hauling commercial. The very short time I hauled for a Broker, required me to have a pintle hitch rated at 20K or more, because they had a contract to pull construction silo's. And they were spposed to be empty, but were not always. You will regret the 3:42 when you hitch up to something heavy. I regret my 3:73 for just this very reason, although mine is a G56, when hauling at slow speeds in Commifornia. DRW 3500 HO, Aisin and 4:10's have a perfect combination for MPG towing and running empty. If you compare that to the 5500 with 4:88 that pull easy, but scream when empty or a 3500 with 3:42 that get better MPG, but will lug when heavy (oh BTW, give you poorer mpg heavy because its like pulling uphill most of the time), so the 4:10's are your best scenario.